Drop photography

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The Drop Photography is a special field of experimental photography.

Figure from two drops

It is about photographing falling drops (from water or other liquids) with different interactions. These interactions can be:

  • immersing in a liquid and bouncing up again,
  • the collision with one or more other drops.

This creates forms and figures that only exist for a fraction of a second and thus largely escape the perception of the human eye. With the help of photography it is possible to capture these short moments and thus make them visible.

equipment

Simple drop images are possible with comparatively little effort. It is sufficient, for example, to place a filled bowl under a dripping tap and at the appropriate moment to press the shutter release of the camera.

Much more impressive photos can be obtained, however, if you precisely control the fall of the drops and their size. This requires the use of a control device that controls the solenoid valves required to generate the drops . This also triggers the camera shutter and the flash units at the right time.

camera

Any camera that has a remote control connection for control by the microcontroller is suitable for drop photography. It must also be possible to work in manual mode. For a good depth of field - depending on the size of the drop sculpture - an aperture of 16 or higher makes sense.

Flash units

In order to “freeze” the rapid movement of the drops, extremely low exposure times are important. This cannot be implemented with the shutter speed of the camera. This is why exposure is only carried out using short light pulses from the flash units of 1/10000 or 1/20000 of a second. This requires flash units that can be operated in the partial load range of approx. 1/32 or 1/64 (depending on the flash unit). Since you have to work with a small aperture and low flash output, at least two flashes are usually necessary for good illumination of the drop photos.

Solenoid valves

The opening time and duration of the solenoid valves can be precisely controlled to the millisecond via the microcontroller. In order to create collisions between the drops, one or better two valves are required.

Solenoid valves

control

At the heart of do-it-yourself solutions is z. B. the Arduino board suitable. It is a circuit board with a microcontroller and analog and digital inputs and outputs, which are used to trigger cameras, flashes and solenoid valves. The Arduino is programmed using a language similar to C ++. Ready-made programs such as B. Droplet available. For drop photography there are also commercial devices such as the GlimpseCatcher, crazyTrickler, the StopShot or the Joker2.

admission

Basically, the following happens when a drop is dropped into a container filled with a liquid: When it hits the surface, part of the liquid splashes upwards, creating a "crown". The drop is immersed in the liquid and is thrown upwards again by the displaced liquid in the vessel. This creates a column of liquid from which a drop often detaches and flies further upwards.

Crown formation

If you let one or more more drops fall onto this column via the control of the solenoid valves and collide with it, unique figures are created. The exact setting of the timing of valve opening and flash and camera triggering is crucial for the recording.

  • Multiple drops

  • Drop chaos

  • Multiple drops

  • Drop column

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